Escape to the House of Mummies Part II
"Escape to the House of Mummies Part II" is an episode of the animated television series The Venture Bros., the fourth episode of the second season. Parodying old adventure series, the episode is intentionally convoluted, full of non sequiturs and open ended digressions, with key plot elements purposefully omitted. There are no real Parts I or III. Plot Previously on "The Venture Bros." ... the team found themselves involved in a convoluted time travel epic involving an Egyptian cult of Osiris and historical figures such as Dr. Sigmund Freud and Caligula, with plenty of various adventure and action clichés in abundance. After the recap of the fictional episode "Escape to the House of Mummies Part I," we join the team who are now trapped in a room deep within a pyramid, apparently in the present day. The only possible exit is through the head of a jackal sculpture on one wall, but even Dean's slender shoulders are too broad for him to squeeze through. Exasperated, Dr. Venture heaps derision on his sons' shortcomings as boy adventurers, and begins to crawl through the opening himself. However, he is stopped when the walls, from which spikes now protrude, suddenly begin closing in. The team is out of ideas, until Hank suggests they call Dr. Orpheus for help. Venture balks at the idea, and Brock sarcastically tells the boys to prepare for death since their father would rather let them all die horribly than make a simple call. Fuming, Dr. Venture contacts Orpheus (who is using his magic to rake leaves in the compound's yard) and explains the situation, although can not provide their exact location. Without explanation, Orpheus urges Dean to imagine his daughter Triana, naked and tongue-kissing him. When Dean complies, Orpheus uses the strong emotional response to locate them and disable the trap's mechanism. Dr. Venture then crawls through the jackal's head, leaving the rest of the team in the momentarily-safe room while he seeks help. Dr. Venture flies the X-1 back to the Venture Compound (damaging the statue out front when he hurriedly lands) and rummages through his laboratory for the equipment he needs to rescue his sons and Brock. Orpheus enters, and Venture's irritation towards the necromancer leads them into another debate on the relative merits of science versus magic. Completely forgetting the urgency of the current situation, they agree to settle the issue with a bet: whoever can shrink themselves the most proves his method is "better." They agree to meet back in the lab the next day to hold their contest. As he leaves, Orpheus reminds Venture he sold Jonas Sr.'s shrink ray to Pete White and Master Billy Quizboy at the tag sale. Venture, clearly having forgotten this, is rather unsettled. Brief scenes show the progress of Brock and the boys, who have managed to escape the cell on their own. The boys have adopted a "friendly" mummy, and Dean is decapitated but remains alive (apparently through "pyramid power"). Brock, Dean, and Hank, presumably stealing the cult's time machine, abruptly end up in the 1800s. Brock puts Edgar Allan Poe in a headlock, apparently out of amusement over Poe's large head. Just as abruptly, Poe travels back to the present day with Hank, Dean, and Brock. In search of the shrink ray, Dr. Venture breaks into the Conjectural Technologies mobile home and trashes the place. White and Quizboy catch him in the act and berate him for not simply asking for the object. At Quizboy's prompting, White admits that he disassembled the shrink ray: he couldn't get it to work, and somehow concluded that "a treasure map or something" was jamming its components. Venture initially despairs at the small paper bag that contains the parts, but the three resolve to work together to reassemble it. Meanwhile, Triana enters her room to find her father standing in front of the closet, from which unearthly light pours out. Stunned and upset, Triana chews him out for not telling her that her closet actually was a portal to Hell (a necropolis, as Orpheus phrases it). Not only did she think she was going insane, but her resulting fear of the closet has prevented her from changing clothes for a long time. Orpheus says that he just thought it was a phase that teenagers went through, like Archie and Jughead. When her anger fails to fade, Orpheus casts a sleep spell on her and erases the event from her memory. "Meanwhile," if that has any meaning, Brock and the boys have used the time machine again... but thanks to Hank, have only traveled to the previous morning. As a result, they (along with Poe and Sigmund Freud) witness their own capture by the Osiris cult. In the otherworldly necropolis beyond Triana's closet, Dr. Orpheus approaches the throne of his master. Sitting on the throne however, is a three-headed dog which snarls at Orpheus, prompting the necromancer to strike it with a fireball. The dog (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin) complains to Orpheus about the attack, revealing that it is actually Orpheus's teacher in animal form. They begin a long discussion about Orpheus' lack of friends while the master sorcerer licks his own crotch with another of his heads (and pontificates on the pleasures thereof). Back at the compound, Venture, White and Quizboy have become distracted from fixing the shrink ray by a "guilty pleasures" questionnaire whose intent Quizboy apparently misunderstands. After finally reassembling the device, they test it on H.E.L.P.eR. and successfully shrink him to an inch or so tall. Deciding that they need to test a human subject, Venture claims that his family needs him and White cites his albinism as an obstacle. Quizboy attempts to beg off due to his virginity, but the others force him to "volunteer" himself. The ray seems only partially successful: successive shots first shrink his lungs, then his head. Brock, the boys, and their time-lost companions Poe, Freud, and Caligula have apparently teamed up with an earlier version of Brock and are planning an assault on the Osiris cult. Orpheus and his teacher now lie on the ground, looking up at the stars and pondering how insignificant the sight makes them feel. With a few more words of encouragement, the master admits that Orpheus is one of his best students and urges him to win the "Incredibly gay" contest against Venture. White, Quizboy and Venture finally conclude that trying to repair the shrink ray is a hopeless effort. Venture glumly acknowledges that he is unable to even repair anything his father built, and that he has always been a failure. Quizboy, however, shows him an old "Rusty Venture" lunchbox that he bought on eBay. The front depicts the young Rusty in his boyhood adventurer days, riding a pterodactyl. Venture reflects that he might not be a very good super scientist, but he was a darn good boy adventurer. White agrees and Quizboy admits that Rusty inspired him to become a scientist. Orpheus approaches and states that he can make himself no smaller than he already feels, and concedes the contest to Venture. Grudgingly, Venture admits that he did no better. In sudden camaraderie, the group leaves for Orpheus' section... but Orpheus mentions a nagging feeling that they have forgotten something. As Venture returns to turn off the lights in the lab, he steps on the still-miniaturized H.E.L.P.eR. After the credits is a teaser for the (supposedly) upcoming episode "Escape to the House of Mummies Part III": somewhere/when, Hank is shivering in an arctic wind, begging Brock to kill him. Brock turns to his other self, and tells him to cut open the body of Poe so they can stuff Hank inside and save him from hypothermia. The other Brock slices open the carcass of Poe, recoiling with the comment "and I thought he smelled bad on the outside!" The first Brock stands with the shivering Hank in his arms, and lets out an anguished scream of "DOOOOOC!" Trivia *In the DVD commentary for "Tag Sale -- You're It!", writer Doc Hammer mentioned that the phosphates used in the shrink ray were his way of possibly motivating the team to visit Egypt where the minerals are naturally occurring. In this way, the team could encounter mummies and other clichés of stories set in Egypt. This episode, written by Doc Hammer, involves the shrink ray, an Egyptian cult, and a mention of the phosphates. *In what appears to be a running gag involving frogmen, several of the Egyptian cult members are shown wearing scuba equipment. (This may be a tribute to Jonny Quest.) *When one of the scuba-suited Egyptians throws his gun at Brock, it is a reference to shows such as the old The Adventures of Superman in which villains often throw their guns after running out of bullets. *In the beginning, when the cult leader tells Dr. Venture he is going to kill Hank and Dean, Dr. Venture says "Join the club", a reference to their multiple deaths mentioned in "Powerless in the Face of Death". *The title and opening bit not only serve as an introduction to the episode, but a mockery on various multi-part episodes seen in television series and other forms of serial fiction by referring to a non-existent part one. *The opening bit is the first time in the show's run in which it has not been letterboxed. *H. Jon Benjamin provides the voice of Orpheus' mentor. Benjamin, among many other voice acting credits, worked on Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, a show for which Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer professed great admiration on a commentary track included on the first season Venture Bros. DVD. *Dr. Orpheus tells Venture he can "make him think you are a very special episode of Blossom." *We now have a possible explanation for how Triana has not shown any sort of amazement or concern over the boys being cloned back to life in "Powerless in the Face of Death", if Dr. Orpheus is not above wiping her mind of certain problems. Her repeated appearances in the same clothes are also explained. *Triana's statement about wearing the same clothes for so long may be a nod to the fact that, traditionally, cartoon characters wear the same outfits in every episode. Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick stated in the season one DVD commentary that they hated this and tried to give the main characters several different outfits. *Dr. Orpheus thought Triana's wearing of the same clothes was a youthful phase, citing Archie and Jughead, even though he, Dr. Venture and Brock as well as other adults he knows seem to always wear the same clothes as well. *Dr. Orpheus' referring to Archie and Jughead is yet another instance of the adults on the show being seemingly permanently stuck in 1950s-1960s in regards to pop culture references *A comment is made about Pete White being William S. Burroughs while he tries out the shrink ray. William S. Burroughs famously killed his wife when he shot her in the face while trying to knock a glass off her head by shooting it. *The ending credit for World Leaders Entertainment depicts a caricature of John F. Kennedy proclaiming, "that's good chowdah." *At one point, Hank says to Dean: "Yeah Clarissa, explain it all." Clarissa Explains It All was a show that aired on Nickelodeon in the early 1990s. *The scene in which Brock delivers an urgent speech outlining the assault on the cult is a parody of the end of the original Assault on Precinct 13. *Master Billy Quizboy mocks Pete White's bad aim with the shrink ray by saying "He holds the gun like a guy who plays Riven." Riven is part of the ''Myst'' series, puzzle-oriented computer games which are often mocked by fans of first-person shooters. *While it was implied in "Hate Floats" that the mauve outfit Dr. Venture frequently wears is a "speed suit" (i.e., a jumpsuit), during his argument with Dr. Orpheus the "shirt" is partially untucked. *When Brock asks Edgar Allan Poe where he hid the Hand of Osiris, he says "Basement, under the floor boards", a reference to "The Tell-Tale Heart". *It is revealed by Dr. Venture that Jonas's father was also a "super-scientist" while his grandfather was a milliner. *Among White and Venture's admitted "guilty pleasures" are Rhea Perlman, Joyce DeWitt and Bonnie Bedelia. (Billy asks "The mother from Die Hard?" to which Dr. Venture replies "The stone fox from A Mother's Right: The Elizabeth Morgan Story, yes.") *During their argument in the lab, Dr. Venture mockingly calls Dr. Orpheus "Kreskin." The Amazing Kreskin is a stage mentalist who enjoyed popularity on television in the 1970s and continues to perform in modern times. Goofs *When Triana confronts her father about the portal to the necropolis in her closet, she say she's been scared of that closet her entire life. However, she and Orpheus only moved to the Venture compound within the last couple of years. **In addition, Triana was seen in "Assassinanny 911" (the episode just prior to this one) wearing a Hello Kitty-esque shirt instead of her normal Jolly Roger shirt. **Also in "Return to Spider-Skull Island", Orpheus refers to her changing out of her "jam-jams into... the clothes you wore last night", suggesting she does sometimes have different outfits. **On his LiveJournal, Jackson Publick lists the possible explanations as: *# Teenagers are very prone to exaggeration and hyperbole. *# The Orpheus family has been living in the compound for a while. We don't really say how long a period of time season one spans, or how much time has elapsed since the beginning of this season, nor how long they had been living there before the boys discovered him (it definitely wasn't Triana's "whole life" though). *# Orpheus no doubt had a similar portal to another dimension in whatever other homes he lived in prior to his arrival at the Venture Compound. *# Orpheus's complete remodeling of the old arachnid research wing hints at some magical manipulation. It's very possible he has magically recreated Triana's childhood home, in order to ease the trauma of divorce, make her more comfortable and prove to the courts that he should have custody of her. *Someone closely resembling Brock wearing Race Bannon's clothes can be seen on the back of the Rusty Venture lunchbox; Rusty and Brock, however, first met in college. **Response from Jackson Publick's blog: "Billy owns a very rare and valuable misprint edition of the 1972 Rusty Venture lunchbox, featuring a mis-colored Jonas Venture Sr. Only 1200 of those were produced before the Thermos Co. fixed the error." *Billy and Pete did not actually purchase the Shrink Ray at the Tag Sale. Doctor Venture snatched it from Billy's hand and declared that "no one gets the shrink ray" when they annoyed him with their haggling and criticism. **On the other hand, it's probable that Dr. Venture is too desperate for cash to have actually kept them from ultimately buying it. We were never shown White's and Billy's final purchase. *Although in "Hate Floats" Dr. Venture cannot see without his glasses, when Dr. Orpheus shatters them with magic to get them out of the Hall of Sorrows, he seems to have no trouble seeing. (Note, however, that in "Hate Floats" he also had one of his eyes knocked out, which would make his vision much worse.) **It is possible that he had a spare pair of glasses in the X-1, since all we see him do is climb into the tunnel before cutting to him crashing at the compound. *When they are looking at the lunch box, in one shot the back is facing away from Billy instead of towards him. Escape to the House of Mummies Part II